Customer Service Goes Bananas

I’ve said before that a company is only as good as its frontline staff. Here are two good examples, both from Marks & Spencer.

I’m looking for bananas. The banana shelves are empty so I ask a nearby shelf stacker. She says they’ve had a busy day and sold out. Feeling sad, I go to the check-out, then just as I’m leaving the shop, the assistant rushes up to me with her arms full of bunches of the curvy yellow fruit. She says “I was just out the back and I found some more bananas!” That’s what I call service.

By contrast, the very next day, I’m trying to select a yoghurt (I know you’re impressed by my healthy diet) but I can’t get to the shelf because an assistant is on his knees in front of me- not worshipping the chilled section but stacking shelves. This is clearly what he sees as his job, and he won't let customers get in the way of it. That’s what I call a banana skin.